An Afternoon Raid
by Razo Imprie
Summary: Liesel and Rudy raid the mayor's library again - but not everything goes to plan.
1. An Afternoon Raid

For Deanna - Happy birthday, my dear friend.

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Somewhere on the outskirts of Munich in a large house a man sat in his study, reading a newspaper. The mayor had much to do but he would always take time to sit and read the newspaper in the afternoon, with a glass of scotch in his hand. So engrossed was he that a thump, a crash and a following swear word floating upwards from the library did not reach his ears.

...

"You Dummkopf!" hissed Rudy Steiner through the open window. He looked at the table lying on the floor in a sea of books and, of course, Liesel, sitting amongst the wreckage.  
"What are you waiting for?! Get out of there before the mayor comes!".

Liesel remained frozen, carefully listening for the sound of footsteps, her body tensed up, ready to escape at a moment's notice. When no sound came, her shoulders relaxed and she let out the breath she had been holding since she had fallen through the window.

"Get in here, saukerl. Help me get this cleaned up," she said, looking up at the face peering through the window.

Rudy pulled himself over the windowsill and landed, far more gracefully than she had done, on the carpet, grumbling.

"I don't see why I have to help," he said, "I didn't make this mess."

"Fine!" Liesel spat back. "At least stand at the door and keep watch for the mayor."

Rudy crouched down at the keyhole, ears alert, waiting for any sign of the mayor, or his wife.

Liesel looked around her; there were at least a hundred books here all coming from the shelf, now empty and lying sideways on the floor. Scrambling over to it she pulled the heavy shelf up with all her strength, Rudy hurrying over to help. Pushing it upright, they manoeuvred it back into position.

As Rudy went back to the door, she bent to pick up the first book.

"'A Waiting Shadow' by Julian Mantel" she read.

"Hurry up, saumensch!" whisper Rudy. "This will take all day if you read every one of them!"

But Liesel couldn't resist - those ones which caught her eye with their bright covers, leatherbound spines or beautiful pictures. She was constantly stopping to read the title, flick through the pages. Every book, she felt, deserved to be read. She felt sorry for the ones which sat on the shelves day after day, never being taken down, looked at, caressed and read. To her, books were as real as human beings - each had a story to tell. Each one was a possible friend, or even family. Books had filled the gap which had been left by her brother but they had more to offer - the more she read, the more she learnt, the more she felt that she growing to be a better person. Books longed to be read, to share their stories. Books had souls.

After several hours, her eyes drooping, she placed the final book into its designated place on the shelf.

"Finally!" exclaimed Rudy. He ran towards the window but, in doing so, caught his foot on a small table. It fell to the floor, the lamp which had been upon it smashing into hundreds of pieces on the floor. A look of terror crossed Liesel's face, as the sound of heavy footsteps from above filled the room.

"Run!" she yelled. Grabbing the nearest book to hand, they jumped out the window and ran like hell towards home.

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I hoped you enjoyed the story - I know it's a bit short (sorry!). I haven't written about the Book Thief in four years - it feels nice to write about it again.

Please review if you liked it.


	2. The First Soccer Game

After swallowing down a bowl of pea soup with a grimace, Liesel Memminger pushed open her front door, a brief flutter of snowflakes entering the kitchen. Closing the door behind her, she heard a shout and a loud thump as something round landed at her feet.

"What's this?" she asked.

"It's a soccer ball, Dummkopf!" the boy with lemon-yellow hair yelled back. "Do you want to play?"

Liesel bent down and picked the round bit of leather up. Turning over the object in her hands she said "But, I don't know how."

Rudy gave a slight sneer. "Wow, your dumber than I thought."

"Come over here and say that again!"

"Woah, okay. Calm down" he said, taking a step back, the other boys sniggering. "The game's really simple. You just kick the ball to get it through the goal - we are just using the bins on either side of the street."

Liesel cocked her head. "That's it? Aren't there any rules?"

Rudy grinned. "The way we play it, there are no rules."

He didn't realise that saying that was a very, very bad idea...

* * *

An hour later the game was over. The casualties stand as follows:

Bruises - many.

Scrapes and grazes - very many.

Black eyes - three.

Twisted ankles - two.

Bloody noses - two.

Punctured soccer balls - one.

and

Girls, victorious - one.


End file.
